Lore - Lore 262: Broken Lines

Episode Date: September 9, 2024

Some of the darker stories in history take generations to develop, coming down to us over the years one broken piece at a time. And the best way to enjoy their power is by putting them back together again. Written and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with research by Cassandra de Alba and music by Chad Lawson. ————————— Lore Resources:  Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music  Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources  All the shows from Grim & Mild: www.grimandmild.com ————————— Sponsors: BetterHelp: Lore is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at BetterHelp.com/LORE, and get on your way to being your best self. Squarespace: Head to Squarespace.com/lore to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using the code LORE. To report a concern regarding a radio-style, non-Aaron ad in this episode, reach out to [e-mail] with the name of the company or organization so we can look into it.   To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to [e-mail], or visit our listing here. ————————— ©2024 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

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you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Some leftovers are more significant than others. While you and I might have some old food lurking in the back of the fridge, the truly ancient stuff is in the hands of archaeologists. Back in March, a great example came to light. Researchers working in a dig site in Turkey known as Çetelhöyük recently announced that they had uncovered something truly amazing.

It's a loaf of bread, small, unbaked, and fermented, and it's nearly 9,000 years old. Bread is, of course, one of a few relatively unchanged threads that run through human history. You and I can pick up a piece of sourdough at lunch today, smell it, pull it apart, and taste it, and make a visceral connection to people who lived a long, long time ago. That alone is magical. But bread is also a signal that a community of people 9,000 years ago in Turkey had enough grain to bake on a regular basis, which means that they grew cultivated crops rather than

harvesting in the wild. And crops meant settling down in one place rather than following wildlife across the land in seasonal movements. In other words, bread means civilization. It's a list of ingredients that hint at an amazing story. They just need to be put together by historians and given enough time to develop. Thankfully, that's a skill that humans are very, very good at. And it's one that we can apply to folklore, too. Every community has a story to tell. The ingredients are right there, buried in legends, documents, and the family trees of

those who came before us. On their own, they are interesting, sometimes even delightful. But when we take the time to combine them into one pot and give it a stir, what takes place is truly powerful. It creates tales that are interesting or educational, even entertaining. And more often than not, some of those stories are downright terrifying. I'm Aaron Manke and this is Lore. The first thing we need is a setting, a place of beauty and drama, and maybe a touch of tragedy. And if there's one land with all of that in abundance, it's Ireland.

Now the Emerald Isle is a big place with lots of unique communities and amazing stories to go along with them. But right in the center, in a region known as the Midlands, is the county of Tullamore. And while it's home to no more than maybe 15,000 people, it has something else that every good story needs. A castle. But let's back up for a moment. In the late 1500s, Queen Elizabeth I of England was the ruling monarch, and her kingdom included

a contentious foothold in Ireland. And in 1577, she did something that wasn't all too unusual for the time. She gifted Irish land to an English family by the name of Moore. It was old land covered in beautiful dark forest and rolling hills and for a while that's all it was to the Moore family. But a mansion was built on the land in the 1640s and then passed from generation to generation as you might expect. Along the way the family patriarch even picked up the title of the Earl of Charleville, setting the family up for picked up the title of the Earl of Charleville, setting

the family up for even more wealth and prestige. The trouble was, the Moors had a hard time producing a male heir. So when the last of their line passed away in 1764, the title shifted to a cousin, Charles William Burry, who was only six months old at the time. And then, of course, he grew up. In 1798, Charles hired a well-known architect named Francis Johnston to design and build a replacement for the old family home. It would take almost 15 years to be completed, but when it was done in 1812, it was magnificent. And its dark and brooding Gothic style helps it give off the feeling of a structure that's

far older than it really is. But of course you can't raise a castle in the forests of Ireland without also sparking some rumors. Charles William Burry and Francis Johnston were both Freemasons and that led to whispers that they also dabbled in the occult. Some people suggested that the castle was built around dark symbology and designed to host evil rituals. None of that was true, of course, but when has the truth ever stopped people from inventing

wild stories, right? Other rumors had to do with the physical location of the castle itself. Some people suggested that it was built on top of an intersection of ley lines, granting the place some sort of mystical power. And others told stories about the ancient Celtic priests known as Druids who used to gather in the forest near the site of the castle where they cared for and worshipped the oak trees there. Fun fact, it's believed that the word Druid is an old Celtic word that means, knower of

the oak tree. And there are a number of old oaks in the area around Charleville Castle. The most ancient though is called the King Oak, which is thought to be over 900 years old. It didn't help that early on, the countryside around the castle was far from stable. English colonization of Ireland had created a tension that rippled through the air, and conflict became commonplace. In response, the English would seize the estates of Irish rebels and then hand it over to British

settlers. Of course, the Irish were always quick to defend themselves, and much blood was shed. Now the Burys did what a lot of the aristocracy had a tendency to do. They lived large. They threw parties all the time, hosted noble guests, and redecorated the castle to suit their changing tastes. There's a rumor that Lord Byron, the celebrated poet, even paid the place a visit, although there's no official record to back that up. Still, that spending came at a cost.

Oh, and one last little example of the family's opulence would be an event that took place in 1785. On May 10th of that year, an annual fair kicked off in the nearby town of Tullamore, coinciding with the 21st birthday of Charles William Burry. As a way of celebrating, a hot air balloon was launched over the house, quite the sight for people back then. According to sources, it was only the third balloon ever to have been launched over Ireland. But it wasn't the sort that you might imagine, with nylon and proper equipment. This was a balloon made entirely of paper, heated by a large basket full of burning straw

beneath it. And, as we all know, fire doesn't mix well with paper and dead grass. After launching, the balloon flew too low and got snagged on a chimney. When it collapsed, it landed on the tightly packed houses of the town with their thatched roofs and set the entire place on fire. Over 100 homes were destroyed that day. And there you go. Dark occult rumors, painful political conflict, and a good dose of family drama. All of these ingredients work together to create a rich, decadent past. But if the stories told by visitors to the castle over the years are any indication, that history has returned in frightful ways.

It's often said that setting is everything. In a way, Charleville Castle seems to be embraced by the landscape around it, locked in by something far more ancient and textured than any stone edifice could offer. But first, let's step inside the castle. Over the years, countless visitors to the old home have reported all manner of unusual experiences within its walls. One of the more common sightings is of various cloaked or hooded figures, often described as druids or monks. The assumption is that those long-dead Celtic priests are upset that the castle now sits on their sacred land, and they appear from time to time to make their displeasure known.

And perhaps that explains the mysterious figure that's been seen roaming the hallways inside the castle over the years, one that's been described as terrifying and marked by evil eyes. One guest who stayed in the castle years ago actually described waking up in the dark early hours of the morning only to witness a line of ghostly hooded figures parade slowly into her room. They seem to be friendly, chanting some kind of blessing, although I have to imagine any visions like that in the middle of the night would be terrifying.

And from what I can tell, midnight visitors are a common occurrence there at the castle, although not all of them have been visible. Another guest in the past reported waking up in the night to the sounds of a conversation inside his room. Two men with accents and vocabulary that hinted at an older era could be heard chatting away in a lively discussion. This guest even claimed that he could hear drinks being poured and enjoyed. In the end, struggling to get enough peace to fall asleep, the witness got up, opened

the bedroom door, and turned all the lights on. And only then did the ghostly chatters end their conversation and move on. Of course, the castle is home to the sorts of reports that you might expect to hear. Spectral knocking sounds, orbs that have a tendency to appear in photographs, doors that lock and unlock on their own, and lights that flicker on and off even in parts of the castle that no longer have electricity. There have even been mysterious clouds of mist that have been spotted moving through walls.

To some, this is evidence of some sort of an elemental entity. These are typically described as spirits that are not human in origin. Sometimes they are friendly or at least benign, but every now and then they can be much more dangerous. And a good example of that is rumored to haunt a part of the castle's library. It seems that there is a balcony in there that overlooks the room, but it's off limits to visitors.

Not because there's any sort of a structural issue that makes it dangerous, but because of the countless stories of some kind of malevolent being that guards it. And what castle is complete without a dungeon, right? Those who have visited the one inside Charleville have reported feeling sick after a while. Some have said that the air down there is so oppressive that breathing becomes difficult. Throw in the echoes of maniacal laughter and voices from the shadows, and it feels like a place that most of us would want to avoid. And all of this is certainly intriguing, maybe even terrifying, but no visit to the castle

would be complete without a trip outside. Remember that ancient 900-year-old tree I mentioned earlier, the King Oak? Well it has its own fascinating folklore as well. It seems that the legends hold that the oak tree is deeply connected to the Burry family and that whenever a branch falls off the tree, a member of the family is soon to die. And there are all sorts of stories that try to align the historical record of deaths with the life of the King Oak, but one in particular stands out. In 1963, the castle and the land belonged to Colonel Charles Howard Burry, who had lived

there for over 30 years. But one night that year, a terrible storm blew in, and lightning struck the king oak, splitting it right down the middle. Now, this isn't all that unusual. Some scientists actually think that oaks are more susceptible to lightning strikes than most other types of trees because of their higher than average water content, and it doesn't help that they also tend to be taller than their non-oak neighbors. All that to say, the lightning strike wasn't a big surprise, all things considered.

But what was a surprise, though, was that just days after it happened, the Colonel passed away. Probably nothing more than a coincidence. He was 82 years old at the time. But coincidences are the perfect fuel for folklore, delivering a shocking end to a tragic family tree. To call the Burry family tragic is honestly an understatement. Over the years, far too many unexpected deaths have arrived at the castle, and to try and cover all of them here would take a while. But there's one story in particular that must be told.

Back in the 1850s, the castle was home to the third Earl of Charlville, along with his wife Lady Arabella and their five young children. In 1857, though, Lady Arabella died from scarlet fever, and then two years after that, the Earl himself passed away. The five orphans had lost their entire world. To help them, their father's brother Alfred and his wife moved into the castle to care for the children and maintain the estate. The oldest of the five, Charles William Francis, inherited the title, becoming the fourth Earl

of Charlville. But as I said before, the family always seemed to have trouble passing that title down in the usual way. In 1874, at the age of just 22, the fourth Earl died without any heirs, and so his uncle Alfred inherited the title. A year later, he too passed away, and with him, the last Earl was gone. But that wasn't the only tragedy to strike that generation. Back to the five orphans for a moment.

We know about the death of their oldest, Charles, but in 1861, when he was just nine years old, one of his younger sisters had a horrible accident. Her name was Lady Harriet Hugh Adelaide Burry, known to all as just Harriet, and the stories about her are exactly what you might expect when people look back fondly on a little girl. She was pretty, they say, smart, they say, and of course outgoing and maybe even a bit adventurous. She was pretty, they say, smart, they say, and, of course, outgoing, and maybe even a bit adventurous. Clearly, she was loved, and she brought a lot of joy to a family that had experienced so much pain. On April 3rd of 1861, though, that sense of adventure took a dark turn.

Around 6 p.m. that evening, the children's governess sent Harriet upstairs to get ready for the evening meal. So, she climbed the stairs all the way to the top floor, a trip that must have been breathtaking since the staircase spanned multiple stories. After she was done, Harriet began to return to the ground level. But somewhere along the way, she decided to have fun. Climbing onto the polished banister, she began to slide down from high above, most likely laughing with joy along the way.

But when she was close to twenty feet from the bottom of the stairs, she lost her balance, slipped off the railing, and plummeted to the stone floor below. Her death, they say, was from a broken neck. Harriet was mourned, and she was buried. Her little body was taken to the nearby St. Catherine's Church, where she was placed inside the family crypt. But while her remains might be there among her ancestors, there are countless stories that suggest that her spirit is still inside the castle.

Years later, two women staying there claim that they awoke in the middle of the night to the sounds of laughter, like that of a child at play coming from the hallway outside. The voice slowly grew fainter as if it were moving away from their room until it ended with a distant scream, an experience that many believe was a ghostly replay of Harriet's final moments. Another guest in the castle said that their bedroom door burst open one night. After closing it, the door opened again and then finally a third time. After that, the voice of a little girl could be heard moving down the hallway outside. Sometimes Harriet makes herself known in more visible ways. More than a few visitors to

the castle have spotted the ghostly shape of a child playing near the stairs, as well as inside the room that was once the nursery on the top floor. She's even known to appear in photos taken inside the building, the small shape of a girl in a pale dress. In some of those photos though, Harriet isn't alone. Many people have spotted her alongside a young boy, and the two have been known to get up to mischief together. Who the boy might be isn't entirely certain,

although there is an intriguing theory about that. You see, some 30 years before Harriet died, another boy in her family passed away. Henry Walterbury was her uncle, although his death at the age of seven meant that Harriet would never meet him. In life, anyway. Henry actually died in London after a battle with influenza, so his body was transported all the way back to Charleville and was interred, like so many before him, in the family crypt at St. Catharines.

Did the spirits of Henry and Harriet find common ground in their place of eternal rest? Some believe so, and the many stories of a ghostly pair of children in the castle, a boy and a girl, have only fueled that legend. To those who have witnessed them, they are partners in crime, pulling pranks on guests and staff alike, giving many people a delightful bit of hope about the afterlife, but also a few unnerving chills. There's something magical about family trees, isn't there? I still remember the first time my grandmother told me stories about ancestors I never had a chance to meet, and then drew out their branches on the tree.

I was instantly hooked. Birthdates, marriages, and gravestone rubbings, all of those pieces have a way of painting a picture of those who came before us. They can be a source of pride or a repository for painful events. Family is, after all, complex. But then again, so are the branches of an ancient tree. For Charleville, that complicated history seemed to come to an end in 1912. That was when any remaining relatives moved out and handed the keys to a small team of caretakers. But an empty castle is still expensive.

So in 1948, a lot of the contents were auctioned off, including heirlooms like the artwork, serving ware, and furniture. After the Colonel died in 1963, the death, if you recall, that was predicted by the lightning strike, it was decided that the annual taxes were just too burdensome, so the roof of the castle was deliberately removed, allowing it to be reclassified as a ruin. And then, in the 1970s, restoration began. Over the decades, it has regained much of its old self and is currently owned by a woman named Bridget along with her family.

And there's one story in particular from her time there that stands out as significant to anyone who has spent time learning the building's history. It seems that years ago, when her family was young, her son went missing inside the top floor of the castle. Knowing how dangerous an old stone building can be in the best of conditions, let alone in a state of repair, Bridget and the rest of the family went looking for him. And clearly on their mind, of course, was that long, tall, dangerous main staircase. When they finally located the boy, he was standing at the very foot of those stairs,

all the way down at the ground level. And when Bridget asked her son how he had gotten all the way downstairs, his answer gave her a chill. He hadn't done it alone, he told her. Holding his hand for safety, he had been guided all the way down by two children, a little girl and a little boy. I hope you enjoyed today's tour through one of Ireland's most haunted castles. There's something so warm and comforting about a good old-fashioned ghost story, and Charleville has an abundance of them. But as you might expect, they aren't unique.

In fact, there's one more spooky castle I'd like you to visit. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Kids are always learning and growing, but as adults, sometimes we lose that curiosity. What's something that you would like to learn? Gardening? A new language? Or maybe how to finally beat your best friend in bowling?

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and switch therapists anytime for no additional charge. Rediscover your curiosity with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash Lore today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P dot com slash Lore. This episode was also made possible by Squarespace. As a creative professional for the past decade, I have had a problem. You see, I am not a web designer and and yet having a solid, professional, good-looking

website is absolutely essential. So when I launched LORE back in 2015, I took a chance and I made the choice to go with Squarespace. Why? Well, their system lets me, a mere mortal, build a website in a way that makes sense through drag-and-drop technology, with all sorts of pre-made functions, things like buttons, images, and text. It saves me time, and it makes me look good in the process.

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eligible countries, offer customers the option to buy now and pay later with Afterpay and Clearpay. And I still love their new asset library feature that lets me save all the necessary images for my site and then have them available across the Squarespace platform. So what are you waiting for? Build your new website today. Just visit squarespace.com slash lore to start your free trial websites. And when you are ready to launch it, use the offer code LORE at checkout to save 10%. Squarespace. Build something beautiful. In Northern Ireland, on the coast overlooking the Irish Sea's north channel, an unassuming castle sits.

Today, its walls look neat and tidy, brightly painted and cleaned up for its use as a luxury hotel, but it has a history that is a lot more textured and dark than appearances may suggest. To understand Ballygally Castle, we need to go back in time almost 400 years, to its foundation in 1625 by a man named James Shaw. It was built in what is known as the French Chateau style, with a steep roof and small turrets at each corner, along with that smooth stone outer facing. And those walls are thick, too, measuring close to five feet. Maybe not the most modern

way to use space, but in the 17th century, an essential feature if you plan to seek refuge from enemy fire inside. And that's certainly what happened less than two decades after it was built. In 1641, during the Great Rebellion, the Shahs provided shelter for Protestants running away from Catholic forces. Despite being attacked multiple times, Ballygally Castle's defenses were never breached, thanks perhaps to those thick walls. Just like other castles and estates throughout history,

Ballygally was passed from generation to generation. Along the way, there were expansions and renovations, too. But by the end of the 1700s, the family line was coming to an end. Around 1760, the then-current Lady Shaw welcomed her two widowed sisters into the castle, rather than all of them living alone, and they got along that way for years. Then in 1799, William Shaw became the final Shaw to own Ballygally, but he was forced to sell it a few years later. For a time, it became home to the Coast Guard, and it was used as their headquarters,

but they eventually sold it off in the 1950s to a wealthy textile manufacturer who converted it into a hotel. And that's what it's been ever since. But despite all that transition, the core of the castle has remained the same. A location where tragic events took place behind well-guarded walls. And most of the stories whispered there originate in one place. The death of Lady Isabella Shaw, wife of the original builder of the castle in 1625. As the legend goes, her husband James became furious when Isabella told him that she was pregnant and that the child was not his.

After waiting until she went into labor, James arrived and took the infant away from her. Not content with just breaking her heart, James then had Isabella taken to one of the turret rooms at the top of the castle and locked inside. The stories are laced with dramatic, painful details, such as Isabella being to one of the turret rooms at the top of the castle and locked inside. The stories are laced with dramatic painful details, such as Isabella being able to hear her newborn daughter wailing and the idea that James wouldn't allow her to be fed, hoping that Isabella would starve to death. But his wife had different plans. They say that she attempted to escape her prison cell by opening the window and climbing

down, but she tragically slipped and fell to her death. Although, in another version, it was James who dragged her to the window and tossed her out. Either way, Isabella's heartbreak came to a painful end. At least that's what James was hoping for. All these centuries later, it seems that Isabella hasn't truly left the castle. Those who have stayed there claim that they've seen a ghostly woman in white moving through

the halls, looking, they say, for her newborn child. Some guests there have reported hearing knocking on the door of their room only to open it and find no one there. Others have said that they felt a presence, even smelling something similar to vanilla in the air, and claim that their invisible guest sometimes steps into their room. But Ballygally has another common legend, one that a number of guests have experienced firsthand over the years.

And a good example took place many years ago at Christmas time. As the story goes, an older couple arrived after a long day of travel and headed to the front desk to check in. Then after setting their bags down in their room, their piece was interrupted by a knock at the door.

It was someone from the hotel staff wanting to hand deliver an invitation to a ball being thrown at the castle that night. And despite being exhausted, they both admitted that it would be fun to attend. And it was. They danced and laughed and enjoyed the celebration. And they were deeply impressed with how the others at the ball managed to show up in period clothing, adding to the magic of the holiday gathering. The following morning, the couple thanked the manager for such a wonderful evening,

but they received a look of confusion. Yes, there was a holiday ball planned for later in the week, but no, it had not been held the night before. Frightened by what this meant, the couple immediately checked out, and they never returned. This episode of Lore was written and produced by me, Aaron Manke, with research by Cassandra de Alba and music by Chad Lawson. Don't like hearing ads? We've got a solution for you. There is a paid version of Lore on Apple Podcasts and Patreon that is 100% ad-free.

Plus subscribers get weekly mini episodes called Lore Bites. It's a bargain for all of that ad-free storytelling, plus a great way to support this show and the team behind it. Of course, Lore is much more than just a podcast. There's the World of Lore three book series online and in bookstores, plus two seasons of the television show on Amazon. Learn more over at lorepodcast.com.

And you can also follow the show on threads, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Just search for Lore Podcast, all one word, and then click that follow button. And when you do, say hi. I like it when people say hi. And as always, thanks for listening. you